Any Way the Mist Goes
by Cynder2013
Summary: A collection of connected short stories where mortals meet demigods. Have you ever wondered what would happen if a certain son of Hades showed up injured when there were mortals over for dinner? Or who you might meet in the waiting room of a doctor's office, a doctor who happens to be a daughter of Lucina? Read these stories for the answers to these questions and many others!
1. Will Solace and Nico di Angelo

Taking place after the events of _The Trials of Apollo_.

* * *

 _Will Solace and Nico di Angelo_

"Jenna, have you seen my blue tie?" Arnold Swartz asked.

He was getting ready for his first date with a woman he had met on a dating website. Since he was scatterbrained at the best of times, the stress of making a good first impression wasn't helping him remember where he'd left things like his keys and the tie he wanted to wear.

His daughter, Jenna, turned the page of the book her was reading. "The bow tie or the necktie?"

"The bow tie."

"It's on the hook on the back of your door."

Finally, Arnold was ready. He went into the living room and let Jenna look him over for a final inspection.

"You're wearing two different socks," Jenna said with disbelief. "I pair up all the socks and you're wearing two different socks."

Arnold looked down at his feet. "They're both black."

Jenna shook her head and went to get him a matching pair of socks.

Once her dad was properly dressed and out the door, Jenna went back to her book with a sigh. Her dad really seemed to like this woman, and she had to like him at least a little if she agreed to go on a date with him. Jenna just hoped that her dad didn't scare her away by being too weird.

A few more dates later and Jenna was wondering if maybe her dad wasn't a weird as she though he was.

"Naomi wants to meet you," Arnold said.

Jenna looked at him and blinked. No, he was just as weird as she thought.

"Why would your girlfriend want to meet me?" she asked slowly.

Arnold tilted his head. "I don't know. She just said that she'd like to meet you and she invited us to her place for dinner."

"Dad, I don't do interactions with people well," Jenna reminded him. She didn't want to wreck this for him.

"It'll be fine," Arnold said. "She's got a son your age."

"Dad! That's even worse."

Arnold patted her on the shoulder. "It'll be fine," he repeated. "I've done plenty of bragging."

"Dad!"

Nothing Jenna said the rest of the week made any difference. On Saturday she and Arnold drove to the other side of Austin to Naomi's house. Arnold rang the doorbell and Jenna tugged nervously at the seams of her skirt while they waited. Was it too late for her to go hide in the car?

The door was opened by a boy wearing a white T-shirt that said "THE DOCTOR IS IN so you're not allowed to die". Jenna concentrated on his shirt because it was easier than trying to look him in the eyes and failing.

"Hi," the boy said. "You're Arnold, right? And Jenna?"

"Yuppers," Arnold said. "Are you Naomi's son?"

"Yeah," the boy said. "Will Solace, son of, uh, Naomi Solace. Come in?"

Will Solace, son of Naomi Solace? What was that about?

Will stepped to the side to let them into the house. Jenna looked at his face out of the corner of her eye and quickly came to the conclusion that Will Solace, son of Naomi Solace, was seriously hot. Like, surface of the sun hot.

This dinner was not going to go well.

Naomi Solace was a smiling blonde woman who made the best King Ranch Chicken Casserole that Jenna had ever tasted, ever. Jenna would have liked to keep her attention on her plate while conversation went on around her, but that was a little hard to do with only four people at the table.

"So, Jenna," Naomi said, "your dad told me that you're in your school band. What instrument do you play?"

"Saxophone," Jenna said shortly. Saxophone players sat in the last row during performances.

"My brother plays sax," Will said. "Jazz."

Arnold looked confused. "You have a brother?" he asked.

"Half-brother," Will elaborated. "His mom lives in Ohio. You met her once, remember, Mom? She came to one of your shows."

"Austin's mom, right?" Naomi asked.

Will nodded.

"Yes, I remember," Naomi said. "She's a lovely woman. We talked about writing a song together, but we've never found the time."

Two women who each had a child with the same man wanted to write a song together. Jenna couldn't have been the only person who thought that was weird.

"Have you met your dad," Jenna asked.

Will looked at her and she ducked her head to avoid getting the full force of his blue eyes.

"A few times," Will said. "He came to stay at our camp for a while as a guest…artist."

The doorbell rang and Will practically jumped out of his seat. "I'll get it."

Naomi attempted to continue the conversation while Will went to answer the door, but she dropped everything when Will yelled, "Mom, I need the first-aid kit!"

Arnold and Jenna looked at each other while Naomi jumped out of her seat and dove into a cupboard. She came out with a microwave-sized plastic tub with a red cross painted on the side of it and lugged it towards the front door.

Jenna got up and went after Naomi. She had first-aid training, so if someone was hurt she though that she should be there to help. Her dad came with her, because he didn't want to sit awkwardly at the table on his own.

"We're in the living room," Will called.

Naomi put the first-aid kit down next to the couch, where a dark-haired boy was bleeding all over the cushions and muttering in a language that Jenna didn't know. It sounded a bit like French.

"What happened to you?" Will asked the boy while he dug through the first-aid kit.

"I got attacked," the boy grumbled.

"By what?"

"By something."

Will looked at the boy with disbelief. "What do you mean by 'something'?"

"I mean something," the boy said. "I don't know what it was. It attacked me. I killed it. There wasn't exactly time to ask for ID."

Will shook his head at the boy. "You sound like Percy."

The boy rolled his eyes. "Would you please just stitch me up? I'm in pain."

"Shouldn't we take him to the hospital?" Arnold asked with wide eyes. "Or call an ambulance?"

"Will will take care of him," Naomi said. "Nico, I'm going to put together a plate for you. You're staying for dinner."

"Yes, Miss Solace," the boy, Nico, said. He winced when Will started cleaning a gash across his stomach with a golden liquid.

"How many times have I told you to call me Naomi?" Naomi chided as she went back to the kitchen.

"Ow," Nico said.

"I'm sorry," Jenna said, "could someone please tell me what's happening?"

"My idiot boyfriend," Will said, "got himself into trouble, again."

"He said he killed someone," Jenna exclaimed.

"Some _thing_ ," Nico corrected.

He squinted at Arnold and Jenna and asked, "You're Miss Solace's boyfriend and his daughter, right?"

"Yuppers," Arnold said.

"Ow," Nico said. "And you're not freaking out?"

"I'm freaking out," Jenna assured him. "I'm really freaking out."

Will put the golden liquid aside after he finished cleaning all of the cuts in Nico's skin. He reached back into the first-aid kit and pulled out a plastic bag filled with…lemon squares?

"How's that supposed to help?" Jenna asked.

Will broke one of the lemon squares in half and handed it to Nico, who looked at him like he'd just given him an entire lemon.

"Do you want me to burn up?"

"You won't burn up," Will said.

"You gave me half a square," Nico argued.

"Do you want me to tell you in detail how your injuries will kill you, or are you going to eat it?" Will asked.

In answer, Nico put the pastry in his mouth and chewed. Jenna gasped when she saw the gash in his cheek heal right before her eyes like a time-lapse video.

"How did you do that?" she exclaimed.

Nico and Will looked at each other.

"Mist?" Nico asked. "They are mortals."

Will shook his head. "They're probably going to be around here a lot. They may as well know."

"Know what?" Arnold asked. "Are you wizards or something?"

"Or something," Will said. "Have you heard about demigods?"

Will and Nico told Arnold and Jenna all about how the ancient Greek, Roman and Norse gods were real, and how those gods, still alive and well in the modern day, sometimes had kids with mortals. Kids like Will Solace, son of Apollo, and Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. It was fascinating.

Jenna was glad she didn't hide in the car.

* * *

A/n: So, this is going to be something for me to write stuff for when I need a break from my other writing. All of these short stories will be taking place in the same universe, which is a different universe from my Sisters by the Styx series but the same universe as the two Amazon stories I've written (Amazon Recruitment and The Hidden Queendom). This story will not have regular updates, like even more so than my other stories. Really I just started writing this for Camp NaNoWriMo and want to have it going for when I need a break (see above).

You will be seeing some of my OCs from my Sisters by the Styx series (if you read that), but remember that these are different versions of them, like how The Golden Dragon Lord has several different versions of his OC, Danielle.

Yours in demigodishness,

Cynder2013


	2. Sapphire Banks (OC) and Malcolm Pace

Taking place after the events of _The Trials of Apollo._ Sapphire Banks (OC) is a daughter of Hades and Persephone, and a legacy of Letus. Malcolm Pace is a son of Athena.

* * *

 _Sapphire Banks (OC) and Malcolm Pace_

The waiting room was absolutely packed. The seats seemed to be filled with women, some in various stages of pregnancy, others cradling new babies, and few with their husband or boyfriend sitting next to them. Dr. Norris's ob-gyn clinic had drop-in hours once a month, but this was the first time that Katherine had gone to them.

Her five-year-old son, Mackenzie, tugged her hand and she looked down at him. "Mommy, can I go play in the tent?"

The tent was a bedsheet fort in one corner of the waiting room that covered a scrap of floor space marked by foam tiles and covered in kids' toys. Katherine nodded and Mackenzie crossed the room to join the boy and girl who were playing with superhero action figures in the fort.

Katherine went back to looking for an empty seat, and eventually spotted one next to a young woman dressed all in black from her hair to her combat boots who was sitting in a dark corner of the room, bouncing one leg up and down nervously and folding a pamphlet back and forth.

She sat down next to the woman, who really was more like a girl, she could only have been seventeen or eighteen, and smiled at her. "Is it your first time here?"

The girl looked at her and Katherine just managed not to gasp when she saw the scar tissue where the girl's right eye should have been.

"Yeah," the girl said quietly.

"You don't have to be nervous," Katherine said. "Doctor Norris is very nice."

"I'm not nervous," the girl argued. "I have ADHD."

Kathrine nodded. "My son has ADHD. He can never sit still."

He had a doctor's appointment in a few hours, in the same building as Dr. Norris's office. Kathrine and her husband, Rob, didn't want Mackenzie to get medication, they both thought that he was too young, but his teacher was at her wit's end and agreeing to go see a doctor was the only way to get her off their back.

The girl looked over at the children playing in the opposite corner. "He's the one with dark hair, isn't he? He's a cute kid."

Kathrine smiled. "Thank you. He's Mackenzie, I'm Kathrine. Kathrine Banks."

The girl's lips twitched into a brief smile. "Funny. I'm Sapphire Banks."

"Really?" Kathrine laughed. "What are the odds?"

Sapphire shrugged. "My boyfriend probably knows. He likes numbers."

She was quiet for a moment before asking, "Can I ask, how far along are you?"

Kathrine looked down at her round "baby bump" that was just starting to show through her knitted sweater. "About four months," she said.

"Do you know their gender yet?" Sapphire asked.

"Not yet," Kathrine answered with a little smile. "I'm coming back with my husband in a few weeks and we're going to do the ultrasound then, but I'm just hoping for a healthy baby."

She hadn't had good luck with pregnancies. It always took her a long time to get pregnant and the first two times she'd been pregnant she'd miscarried. Her previous doctor had thought that she wouldn't be able to have children and had suggested she and Rob adopt, which they had. Katherine and Rob wouldn't give Mackenzie up for anything, but they both always wanted a large family. When one of Kathrine's friends suggested that they go see Dr. Norris for help they made an appointment the same day.

Dr. Norris had said that they could try to have a baby again; it wouldn't be harmful to Kathrine's health and she "had a feeling" that everything would go well. So far she seemed to be right.

Sapphire nodded. "I have a feeling it's going to be a girl," she told the older woman. "And…she'll have your eyes."

Kathrine raised her eyebrows. "Really? How do you know that?"

Sapphire gave a real smile. "You have brown eyes. Genetics."

Well, that made sense, but it wasn't really what Kathrine was asking about.

"Banks," the receptionist called. "Sapphire Banks."

Sapphire stood, dropping the pamphlet she had been playing with on the seat of her chair. She looked at Kathrine.

"Maybe I am a little nervous," she admitted.

Kathrine smiled at her. "It'll be fine. And I'll be here when you get back."

The waiting room really was that full.

"Thank you," Sapphire said before going into the examination room that the receptionist indicated.

Kathrine spent the time watching Mackenzie play with the other children and reading the "What to Expect When You're Expecting" pamphlet that Sapphire had left on her chair. When Sapphire came back to the waiting room she took one look at her and pulled her into a hug.

"Oh," Sapphire said. "What's this for?"

Kathrine drew back. "You looked like you needed a hug."

Sapphire sniffed and wiped away the tears running out of her eye with her sleeve. "Maybe a little."

She sat down and put her face in her hands. "Oh gods. I'm pregnant. Oh gods."

Kathrine patted her on the back and didn't say anything. She had been happy when she had found out she was pregnant, apprehensive, but happy. She didn't know how to comfort a girl who was unhappy about it.

Sapphire took a few deep breaths. "Malcolm's happy," she said quietly. "He wanted to have kids but we thought it would be later. Oh gods, five years and I'm still not ready to be a mother."

"Banks," the receptionist called again. "Kathrine Banks."

Kathrine looked with concern at Sapphire, who shook her head.

"I'm fine," she said. "They're calling you."

Kathrine stood and looked at Mackenzie, who was in the middle of playing a game involving lots of flying superheroes and explosive sound effects. He looked like he was having a lot of fun.

"I'll keep an eye on him," Sapphire said. "I mean, I only have one eye but…You know what I mean."

Kathrine went into the examination room. Soon she was joined by Dr. Norris, who smiled at her as she rolled up her sleeves, revealing the stack of tattoos on her inner right forearm, a barcode-like tattoo, SPQR, and a silhouetted candle.

"Back again, Kathrine?" Dr. Norris asked.

"I just want to be sure," Kathrine said.

Dr. Norris shook her head. "Kathrine, I can do all of the same tests we did last week, or you can trust me when I tell you that you are fine, the baby is fine. You have nothing to worry about."

Kathrine didn't look convinced. Dr. Norris sighed.

"Kathrine, I promise you that nothing bad will happen to this baby. Not while I'm around."

When Kathrine got back to the waiting room she was surprised to see Mackenzie sitting next to Sapphire, looking at the pages of a notebook she was holding. They both looked up when she approached with identical smiles.

"Mommy, Sapphy is the coolest!" Mackenzie enthused.

"Mackenzie was just helping me with my book," Sapphire told Kathrine. "I'm guessing you have to go now?"

Kathrine nodded. "Someone has a doctor's appointment."

Makenzie grumbled, but he slid off the chair and took her hand. Sapphire also stood, closing her notebook and tucking it into her purse.

"My boyfriend probably broke every traffic law to get here from school," Sapphire said. "I'm going to head downstairs."

She walked with them to the stairs and then kept pace with Kathrine while Makenzie ran ahead, with Katherine reminding him to stop at the second floor.

"His teacher wants him medicated," Kathrine said suddenly, "but my husband and I think it's a bad idea."

She didn't know why she was telling this to a girl that she'd met barely two hours before. Maybe she thought that Sapphire would be able to give her some advice since the girl had ADHD herself.

Sapphire sighed. "They always do. My friend and I had three teachers like that in elementary school."

"What did your parents do?"

Sapphire shrugged. "Put us in sports, mostly. Track, gymnastics, wrestling. Then when we were thirteen we started going to these summer camps, there's one here and one in New York. They specialize in helping kids with ADHD and dyslexia. They're pretty much a second home."

"I've never heard of camps like that," Kathrine said.

"You need certain connections to get in," Sapphire admitted. "Mostly they contact you."

Mackenzie screamed.

Sapphire ran down the stairs, reaching into her purse, with Kathrine half a step behind her. They stopped on the second floor landing, where Mackenzie was being steadied by a blond man.

Sapphire sighed and took her hand out of her purse. "Malcolm," she said. "What happened?"

The man looked up, surprising Kathrine with his piercing grey eyes and the trio of scars going down his left cheek. "We kind of ran into each other."

"I'm okay," Mackenzie said.

Kathrine knelt down and looked him over. It didn't look like he would have any bumps or bruises.

"Malcolm, this is Kathrine and her son, Mackenzie, who you just ran over," Sapphire said. "Kathrine, this is my boyfriend, Malcolm Pace."

"Hi," Malcolm said. "Sorry about the collision."

"It's okay," Mackenzie said. "You caught me super-duper fast!"

Malcolm smiled. "I've had some practice..."

"You are not telling Mackenzie about the climbing wall incident," Sapphire interrupted. "He is too young to have to deal with your puns."

"I respectfully disagree," Malcolm said, "but I'm not going to argue because I need you on my side when Nico catches me."

Sapphire groaned. "Did you tell my brother…?"

Malcolm grimaced. "It slipped out."

Sapphire sighed and turned to Kathrine. "I have to stop my brother, and probably my cousins, from killing my boyfriend now. One second."

She went into her purse and took out a business card, which she handed to Kathrine. "It's not mine, but it's got the phone number. Give us a call if you need any help."

Sapphire said goodbye to Kathrine and Mackenzie. Then she and Malcolm turned and headed down the stairs, disappearing around the corner.

Kathrine looked at the card, which read:

Nico di Angelo

Head Counselor

Half-Blood Hill

Long Island, New York

(800) 009-0009

Mackenzie tugged on her sleeve. "Mommy, are we going to the doctor now?"

Kathrine nodded and slipped the business card into her pocket. "Yes, Mackenzie. Let's go."

If she didn't like what the doctor had to say, then she would call Nico di Angelo at Half-Blood Hill.

* * *

A/n: There's a secret in this short story, and I'm not talking about the demigod one. Did anyone spot it?

-Cynder2013


	3. Chiron, Nico di Angelo, Grover Underwood

Taking place after the events of _Trials of Apollo._ This is a sequel to the second chapter of this fic.

* * *

 _Chiron, Nico di Angelo, and Grover Underwood_

Having a meeting at a coffee shop wasn't so odd. Heck, there was a group of businesspeople having a budget meeting a few tables over from Kathrine and Makenzie. What Kathrine found odd was that she was meeting with the director and some counselors of a summer camp for kids with ADHD in a coffee shop. Since she assumed that at the very least the counselors would have ADHD, going somewhere where most of what was served was caffeinated and everything had sugar seemed like a bad idea.

Kathrine had bought small fruit drinks for herself and her son, and now they were waiting for the camp people to arrive. The coffee shop was pretty empty, aside from the budget meeting, so she was sure that they wouldn't have too much trouble finding them.

Every time the door opened, Kathrine looked up. The first time it was two teenage girls carrying field hockey sticks. The second time a harried looking man ran in, bought the drink with the highest level of caffeine on the menu, and ran back out the door in twenty seconds flat.

Kathrine thought that he had probably already had too much caffeine.

The third time the door opened the first person in was a bearded man in a brown suit whose wheelchair was being pushed by a younger man dressed all in black. They were followed by another young man with a wispy beard wearing an orange rasta cap and walking with forearm crutches.

The young man with the hat looked quickly around the coffee shop. "Over here," Kathrine heard him say to the other two.

Makenzie stopped looking out the window when the three men arrived at their table. "Hello," he said.

The bearded man smiled, causing the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes to deepen. "Hello," he said. "You must be Makenzie."

"Uh huh." Makenzie nodded. "Who're you?"

"You can call me Mr. Brunner," the man said.

"Kathrine," Kathrine told Mr. Brunner as they shook hands. "Kathrine Banks."

The young man in black coughed and said, "I'll go-"

The young man with the hat interrupted him. " _I'll_ go get drinks. You stay with Mr. Brunner, Death Boy."

Death Boy scowled and slumped into the remaining empty seat at their table while the other boy went over to the counter and began talking to the barista in a relaxed manner.

"This is Nico," Mr. Brunner said. "You spoke with him on the phone."

Kathrine looked at Nico, last name di Angelo, who nodded slightly in acknowledgment. The silver skull ring on his finger flashed as he drummed on the top of the table.

"You look a lot like Sapphire," Kathrine commented, noticing how he was hiding his eyes behind his dark hair.

Nico shrugged. "She is my sister."

The other boy came back to the table, somehow balancing a cup holder with three drinks in it. "Okay, we've got a blueberry smoothie for Nico, dark hot chocolate for Mr. Brunner, and an Americano for me…and I need a chair."

"This is Grover," Mr. Brunner said before the boy could go running off to look for a chair that hadn't been taken by a business executive. Grover nodded politely.

"We have been looking into your son's case," Mr. Brunner said. "You have been told that our campers have certain connections, yes?"

Kathrine nodded. Nico's sister, Sapphire, had mentioned that before she gave her the card with the phone number for Half-Blood Hill. Kathrine still didn't know what 'certain connections' meant, but she had a feeling that it had to do with the people you knew. Since Sapphire had told her to call, she was feeling pretty good about their chances of getting Makenzie into one of the ADHD/dyslexia summer camps.

Mr. Brunner took a sip of his hot chocolate. He looked at Makenzie, who was playing a war game with figures he'd folded from paper napkins. He didn't seem to be paying any attention to anything else that was going on. Still, Mr. Brunner lowered his voice, and as soon as he spoke Kathrine knew why.

"Your son's birth mother is one of our head counselors."

Kathrine forgot to breathe for a moment. She and Rob, her husband, hadn't kept Makenzie's adoption a secret from him, though Mr. Brunner was kind to worry about that, but they didn't know who his biological parents were. It had been a closed adoption, and they were fine with that. Sometimes though, Kathrine did wonder who that mysterious woman was who'd given birth to her beautiful baby boy.

And now she could know.

"She isn't asking to have contact with him," Mr. Brunner said quickly. "She's willing to stay away from camp if you want her to, but it's because of her that Makenzie can come to our camp."

"Because she said he could?" Kathrine asked.

"Because he's part of our family," Nico said.

Kathrine looked at Nico. He was twisting his skull ring around his finger and glaring at his drink.

"We're all family at camp," he muttered.

Grover nodded. Mr. Brunner smiled.

"Nico is correct," Mr. Brunner said. "The campers do see themselves as a family. If Makenzie were to join us he would have the support of his cabin mates and the older campers."

"This is the camp that's here, right?" Kathrine asked.

She placed a hand on her stomach. With the baby sure to have been born by summer, she didn't want Makenzie going too far away from home. What if something happened to him?

Mr. Brunner shook his head. "At this time we only have space for him in New York. That would be the best place for him anyway. Our California branch is much stricter. A five-year-old like Makenzie can't be expected to follow all of the rules they have there."

"Oh," Kathrine said.

Mr. Brunner looked at her carefully. "If you like, we could arrange for a place for you to stay in Manhattan for the first week of camp. That way you can see that Makenzie is doing well."

"I…will talk to Rob," Kathrine told him.

She looked at Makenzie, who had roped Grover into playing his war game with him. They were both laughing at Nico, who was seated between them and was being forced to be a mountain for Makenzie's army to march over. Nico looked like he was trying not to smile but was failing miserably.

If the rest of the camp counselors were like those two then, she thought, this camp would be good for Makenzie. But it was all the way across the country.

Mr. Brunner, Grover and Nico soon said goodbye, with the promise that they would keep in touch. All the way home, Kathrine thought about Mr. Brunner's offer. If she could stay near her son for the first week…but the baby…but Rob would be able to take care of them…

"Mommy," Makenzie said when they got home. "I want to go to summer camp. Can I go, please? Nico said he would be my head consoler."

"Your head counselor," Kathrine corrected gently. "We'll talk about it when your dad gets home, okay?"

"Okay!" Makenzie said happily, before running off to go play with the toy cars scattered all over the living room floor.

Kathrine went to make herself a cup of tea. While the kettle boiled she thought and thought. How would she convince Rob that Makenzie should go stay with his new friends in New York?

She would think of something. Come June, Makenzie would be the newest camper at Camp Half-Blood.


	4. Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, et al

Taking place after the events of _Trials of Apollo._ This is a sequel to the second and third chapters of this fic.

* * *

 _Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, et al._

Driving in Manhattan traffic with a crying baby and an ADHD six-year-old in the back seat after having spent days driving clear across the country was extremely not fun.

Kathrine turned around in the front passenger seat while the car was stopped (which it had been for nearly fifteen minutes) and tried to get their children to settle down. "It's okay, baby. Mommy's here."

Baby Joyce Oliva Banks continued wailing at the top of her lungs.

"Are we there yet?" Makenzie asked.

Rob, said the same thing he'd said every time their son had asked that question, "Almost."

Traffic finally started moving again. As soon as the car was moving Joyce stopped crying and gurgled like absolutely nothing had ever been wrong with her world. Makenzie drove one of his toy cars up the side of her car seat and she waved her hands at it.

Kathrine sat back in her seat and sighed quietly. Rob gave her a smile without taking his eyes off the road.

"It'll be fine, honey," he said. "Oh, here we are."

He made the last turn and they spent another ten minutes looking for a parking spot. Once they'd gotten their car parked, their blue, white and red licence plate standing out from all of the yellow New York plates, Rob picked up Joyce and Kathrine held Makenzie's hand for the short walk to the apartment building where Sally Jackson and Paul Blofis lived.

Paul was waiting for them in the lobby. He was a tall man with salt-and-pepper hair and wrinkles at the corners of his eyes from smiling. He shook Kathrine's hand and cooed over Joyce before leading them to his apartment.

"We'll get your suitcases out of the car once my stepson gets home," Paul said when Rob questioned the wisdom of going upstairs only to have to come back downstairs in a few hours. "He'll probably have some friends with him so it won't be too much trouble."

Joyce gurgled happily.

"Sally, the other Bankses are here," Paul called as he opened the apartment door.

The smell of fresh-baked cookies wafted out into the hallway. Makenzie pulled Kathrine into the apartment after Paul.

A little girl came running into the spotless living room. "Sapphy, look at—" She screeched to a stop when she saw Makenzie and Kathrine. "Oh."

While the girl was staring at them, a woman with streaks of grey in her dark hair entered from the same direction. Sally Jackson.

She smiled and the entire room seemed to light up. "Hello, Rob and Kathrine, isn't it?"

"Yes," Kathrine said, "and this is Joyce and Makenzie."

"Hello!" Makenzie said.

"Oh," Sally said, looking momentarily surprised. She quickly recovered and introduced the little girl who was still frozen with shock as her and Paul's daughter, Calliope.

"Cally," Calliope protested, finally breaking out of her surprise. "My name is Cally. Daddy, you said that the Bankses were here."

While Paul explained to his daughter that Kathrine's family was also named Banks, Sally invited them to sit down and have some cookies and tea. Makenzie was delighted with the chocolate chip cookies that Sally brought out. They had been dyed blue, which was his favourite colour.

"They're my son's favourite," Sally said when she saw Kathrine and Rob looking at the strangely coloured baked goods.

Her son, Percy Jackson, arrived a few seconds after the cookies had been brought out, like he had been summoned by the smell of them. He had brought some friends along, as Paul had said he probably would, and they were introduced to Jason Grace and Leo Valdez.

Percy and his friends were all in their twenties, but when it came to Sally's cookies they acted like they were Cally and Makenzie's age. They only reason that they didn't wake up Joyce, who had fallen asleep in Rob's arms, was because Percy and Leo had their argument over who could have the last cookie entirely in whispers and pantomime.

"Makenzie gets the last cookie," Jason said after about five minutes of pantomime. "We have suitcases to move, right, Paul?"

Paul stood up. "Yes, we do."

Rob handed Joyce off to Kathrine and they went to get the suitcases from the car. It took them one trip to bring everything up, and Rob and Paul didn't even end up carrying anything.

Paul and Sally put them up in their guest room, which Percy told them had been his room before he moved out. They went to bed about two hours after Percy and his friends arrived, when Makenzie stopped bouncing off the walls and started yawning.

"How are things at camp?" Kathrine heard Sally ask while they were getting ready for bed.

"Um…" Leo said.

Percy sighed. "Kayla is dead. Will's sister."

There was a crash. Kathrine took it as an excuse to come running into the kitchen and saw Percy, Jason and Leo standing around the counter looking at the dinner plate that Sally had just dropped on the floor.

"Oh no," Sally said. "What happened?"

"She and Sapphire both went into labour yesterday," Jason told her while Percy started sweeping up the broken plate. "There were…complications."

"Sapphire's grandfather," Leo said when Sally raised her eyebrows at "complications", "and _a certain someone_ messing around with his list."

Sally sighed and shook her head. Kathrine slipped out of the kitchen unnoticed. She didn't understand half of what they had been talking about, but she hoped that Sapphire and the babies were alright.

The next morning Jason and Leo were gone, apparently having already left for the camp since they were both head counselors, and Percy was eating breakfast with Makenzie and Cally, who had woken up before everyone else. Percy had made pancakes, with blue food colouring mixed into the batter, and Makenzie had a syrup-drenched stack of them in front of him. Being in the car with him was not going to be fun.

Kathrine drove while they followed Paul's car out to Long Island Sound. It was a nearly three hour drive, but that was still a lot closer than California.

Paul stopped driving at the bottom of a hill that was topped by a large pine tree and what looked like a stone pillar. Kathrine parked behind him. Percy got out of the car and said something to Paul, who nodded.

As soon as Makenzie saw that Percy was outside he undid his seatbelt and jumped out of the car without so much as a by your leave.

Kathrine threw her door open. "Makenzie Robert Banks! What have we told you about running off?"

Makenzie froze halfway up the hill. "Sorry, Mommy!"

Kathrine sighed and shook her head. This was what happened when Makenzie had sugar.

She and Rob followed their son and Percy up the hill. As they got closer to the top of the hill, Kathrine saw that there was a metal dragon wrapped around the base of the pine tree which breathed gold-coloured flames that hung over a lower branch of the tree. Joyce took one look at the shiny statue and buried her face in her dad's shoulder.

"Cool!" Makenzie said with wide eyes when he saw the dragon.

Percy grinned. "Yeah, that's Peleus, our guard dragon."

They came to the top of the hill and in the valley below there was…nothing. A large blue farmhouse and miles of strawberry fields marked by a sign reading "Delphi Strawberry Service" were the only signs of human occupation.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Rob demanded.

Percy crossed onto the other side of the hill. "No joke. I, Percy Jackson, give Kathrine, Rob and Joyce Banks permission to see and enter Camp Half-Blood."

Three quarters of the strawberry fields disappeared. They were replaced by a group of cabin-sized buildings arranged in the shape of a Greek omega, a climbing wall (among other things) and a lot of people who were rushing all over the place. One of these people came running up to the top of the hill. She was a young woman with blond hair and grey eyes that looked very familiar to Katherine, though she couldn't quite place them.

"Percy, I told you to wait for me," the woman complained.

"You were late," Percy said as an excuse.

"You were early," the woman shot back. "The one time you're early and it's today."

Percy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry?"

The woman shook her head. "Seaweed Brain."

She turned to Kathrine and Rob, who were frozen in shock after seeing a fully curated summer camp appear out of thin air. "Hi, I'm Annabeth. Please don't freak out."

"Where did the… _everything_ come from?" Rob asked.

"That was magic," Percy said.

Annabeth elbowed him. "You are not helping," she whispered.

Magic. Of course it was magic.

"Uh…Welcome to Camp Half-Blood?" Percy offered.

Annabeth sighed and shook her head.

Kathrine wasn't sure how it happened, but somehow they ended up sitting on the couch in the living room of the farmhouse while Mr. Brunner explained gods and demigods to them. Makenzie had gone off with Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, and Annabeth Jackson-Chase, daughter of Athena, for a tour of the camp.

Rob held up his hand. "Wait, wait. You're telling us that all those Greek and Roman gods are real? And they exist? And they live in New York?"

"The North America," Kathrine said. "He said North America."

It was very important to be specific about these things.

"And Makenzie, our Makenzie, is the son of one of those gods?" Rob asked.

Mr. Brunner, who had told them his name was actually Chiron, shook his head. "In Makenzie's case his birth parents were both demigods, the children of gods. That makes Makenzie what we call a legacy."

 _Both_ of his parents?

"Is his father a head counselor too?" Kathrine asked.

Chiron sighed. "His father died before he was born."

Oh.

The sound of footsteps came down the hallway. Percy poked his head through the door.

"Are you done?" he asked Chiron.

"Just about," Chiron said. "Where's Makenzie?"

Percy grimaced. "He just got claimed. We need you to get Mr. D not to put him with the Ares kids, because that's not a good idea."

"Indeed it is not," Chiron said gravely. "Rob, Kathrine, you and Joyce should stay here."

"If our son is in danger," Rob started to say.

"He'll be fine," Chiron said. "Mr. D hasn't turned anyone into a dolphin in months."

That wasn't a reassuring statement.

As Chiron wheeled himself outside, Percy pointed down the hallway. "The infirmary is that way. I think Sapphire wanted to see you."

The infirmary was very quiet. There seemed to be three people working there when Rob and Kathrine went in and only two beds were occupied. The bed nearest to the door held a boy who had both of his arms wrapped in bandages. The girl who was helping him drink a glass of some golden liquid was muttering under her breath. Rob thought that he heard her say something about the boy getting his arms cut off, but after the way his day was going he decided that he had misheard.

"Hi," Sapphire said from the other side of the room.

Her bed had been surrounded by curtains at some point, but they had been pushed aside to make room for her bodyguards. Nico di Angelo was standing on the side of the bed closest to the door, scowling at everyone and everything around them, and Malcolm Pace was sitting on the other side on only chair in the room with one of two babies in his arms. The other baby was being held by Sapphire.

Really only Nico was a bodyguard. He was holding a black baseball bat.

Kathrine blinked and two black chairs suddenly appeared by the bed.

"Sapphire," Nico grumbled.

"Will didn't say no Underworld-y stuff," Sapphire said. "And you know he would have."

She looked at Kathrine and Rob. "Have a seat."

Kathrine and Rob sat down carefully on the "Underworld-y" chairs. Joyce waved jerkily at the other babies, who were too busy sleeping to respond.

"A girl and she had your eyes," Sapphire said to Kathrine.

Rob smiled at his daughter. "Yes, she does. This is Joyce, I'm Rob."

Sapphire looked at Nico. "Can we do real introductions? Please?"

Nico sighed. "Fine."

"Will you put down your sword? Please?" Sapphire tried.

The baseball bat in Nico's hands flickered and for a split second Kathrine saw a black sword in its place, which was what it actually was according to the brief overview of the Mist that Chiron had given them.

Nico scowled. "No."

Malcolm almost smiled. "Malcolm Pace, son of Athena."

So _that's_ why Annabeth's hair and eyes had seemed familiar.

"Nico di Angelo, son of Hades," Nico said.

"Sapphire Banks, daughter of Hades and Persephone, legacy of Letus," Sapphire told them.

"No, I'm not a goddess," she said a split second before the exclamation of such passed their lips.

Rob shook his head. "Then what are you?"

Sapphire bit her lip. "Technically? A demigod. Long story short, mix a baby goddess with a dying legacy and you get me."

Kathrine and Rob nodded like they understood exactly what she had said. They were still new to this whole real life mythology thing.

"Twins?" Kathrine asked, trying to change the subject.

Sapphire, Nico and Malcolm immediately looked at least twice as unhappy as they had before.

"Not twins," Malcolm said gruffly. "The one Sapphire's holding is ours."

"Yuki Kayla Pace," Sapphire interjected half-heartedly. "Named after my grandmother."

"And this is James Knowles, son of Ares, legacy of Apollo." Malcolm sighed. "Kayla is…Kayla was his mother."

"She's in Elysium," Nico said quietly.

Malcolm stood and Nico suddenly had to juggle a baby and his baseball-bat-that-was-a-sword in a way that looked a lot more dangerous than it actually was. Rob and Joyce were dragged out of the infirmary by Malcolm as he muttered something about getting coffee.

"Kayla was practically his sister," Sapphire explained. "They came to camp together and bunked near each other in the Hermes cabin before they got claimed."

Yuki squirmed and Sapphire cooed at her. Nico's sword ended up lying on the bed beside them, which made Kathrine feel a lot better about the safety of James Knowles.

"Claimed?" Kathrine asked. "That's when your godly parent tells you who they are, isn't it? Percy said that Makenzie got claimed, but isn't he a legacy?"

Nico cursed and looked down at the baby he was holding. "Mr. D had better not put him with the Ares kids."

"Legacies get claimed too," Sapphire said. "Nico, Mackenzie isn't going anywhere but the Hades cabin."

Kathrine suddenly realized Nico and Sapphire knew which gods Makenzie was a legacy of. That had to mean that they knew who his parents were.

"Is his mother one of Ares's daughters?" Kathrine asked. That could be why no one wanted him to be in the Ares cabin.

Nico and Sapphire looked at Kathrine, and then looked at each other. Nico shook his head. Sapphire pressed her lips together and looked very much like she was going to cry. Then she shook her head and looked back at Kathrine.

Speaking so quietly that Kathrine had to strain to hear her, Sapphire said, "His father was a son of Ares. He…wasn't a nice person. He died. I…I was Makenzie's mother."

Kathrine was speechless. She stared at the girl with her lips parted. Sapphire lasted for about ten seconds before her eye filled with tears. Kathrine immediately snapped out of her surprise to give her a hug.

Sapphire sniffed and wiped her eye dry with her shoulder. "What was that for?"

"You needed a hug," Kathrine said simply.

Sapphire laughed. "This is ridiculous. Let's talk about something else. Have you met Peleus?"

"Maybe?" Kathrine said.

Sapphire shook her head. She and Nico ended up taking turns telling Kathrine about the real Peleus the guard dragon and the quest to find the Golden Fleece while sounds of a medieval battle leaked in from outside. By the time the infirmary started filling up, Kathrine had come to a completely ridiculous conclusion considering all the bodily harm campers seemed to come to: Camp Half-Blood was the best thing that ever happened to her family.

* * *

A/n: This was a long one only because I wanted to finish with this storyline. Next time, something new and shorter.

-Cynder2013


	5. Clarisse La Rue and Chris Rodriguez

Taking place between _The Sea of Monsters_ and _The Titan's Curse._

* * *

 _Clarisse La Rue and Chris Rodriguez_

There were three things that Irene La Rue hated with a fiery passion:

1) Nude lipstick (like, seriously, what was the point of wearing makeup if no one could see that you were wearing it?)

2) Garlic (how were you supposed to kiss anyone if your breath smelled? Like, ew!)

3) Her little sister, Clarisse.

She went out of her way to avoid all of these. The easiest to avoid was her sister, because Clarisse hadn't been home for years. Irene didn't know why, and she didn't care. It was just Irene and her parents, and she liked it like that.

Then one day she went downstairs and saw Clarisse sitting at the breakfast table.

Irene tripped on the last step and grabbed the railing just in time to avoid falling flat on her face and ruining the first day of school makeup she had spent two hours doing. "What are _you_ doing here?" she shrieked at Clarisse.

"Having breakfast," Clarisse snarled.

"Why?!"

"Because a person needs more than protein shakes," Clarisse grumbled. "The fridge is filled with those stupid things."

Irene stopped herself from scowling (that would give her wrinkles!) and took one of the several hundred single serve bottles of a meal replacement drink out of the fridge. She added a straw so that she wouldn't have to completely reapply her lipstick and steadfastly ignored her sister while she drank her breakfast.

"Mom, I'm going to school!" Irene shouted up the stairs.

"Give your sister a drive," her mom called back. "I'm late for work."

Irene groaned. "We're going to the same school?"

Her (social) life was over.

Irene and Clarisse were both starting school well into the first semester. Irene had been expelled from her last school, totally unfairly by the way, and Clarisse…Well, Clarisse apparently decided not to show up until then. Since Irene had to drive Clarisse to school there was no way she would be able to pretend that they didn't know each other.

Repeat, her social life was over.

It would take fifteen minutes to drive to school. Five minutes in, Clarisse shouted for Irene to stop the car and jumped out before she had even pulled over on the empty street.

"What the hell are you doing?" Irene shouted.

Clarisse didn't reply because she was busy running around the corner of a building into the alleyway between two shops.

Irene drummed her perfectly painted fingernails on the steering wheel and looked at the clock. If Clarisse wasn't back in three minutes she was leaving her. She did not want to be late for school. She had English first. That was her favourite class.

Five minutes later Clarisse appeared in the rear-view mirror leading a person dressed in…armor. Full, metal armor, in this heat. Why were they wearing armor? Where did they even get armor?

The back door opened and Clarisse gently pushed the person inside the car. She removed their helmet and Irene briefly saw the pale face of a dark-haired boy before he covered his head and face with his arms.

"Too bright!" the boy said. "There's no light here."

Well, that wasn't a contradiction or anything.

Clarisse continued removing the boy's armor. "Turn around," she told Irene. "We're going back to mom's."

"What?" Irene said. "We have school."

Clarisse glared at her in the rear-view mirror. "Chris needs help. When have you ever cared about school anyway?"

It was a fair question (Clarisse hadn't been around enough to see how Irene had changed) but Irene didn't get a chance to answer it. The boy, whose name must be Chris, began muttering something about strings and all of Clarisse's attention was diverted back to him.

"Just turn back," she said before expertly undoing the straps holding metal to Chris's bare forearms. Skin peeled off with the armor. The metal had burned him because of how hot it was.

Irene looked at Chris, who was shivering despite the heat.

"No, Mary! Run! You have to run!" Chris cried.

Irene swallowed and turned the car around.

She would just be late for school.


	6. Piper McLean and Jason Grace

Taking place early during the events of _Trials of Apollo_ (because if Annabeth can keep hopping over to Boston, Piper and Jason can be at a talk show filming).

* * *

 _Piper McLean and Jason Grace_

In the wake of the end of _The Oprah Winfrey Show,_ network television was inundated with a wave of copycats. _The Liam Bernard Show_ was the newest of these copycats, just another daytime American talk show with two chairs and a live audience. Liam didn't even know how he'd ended up as the host. He thought that maybe it had something to do with that _Son of Sparta_ movie he'd had a small (read: co-starring) role in since he'd gotten the job after talking to people at the cast party, but he wasn't entirely sure. Honestly, when Riley, his agent, had mentioned being on a TV show he'd thought that they were talking about something like _Supergirl_ or _Chicago P.D._ or that new Sandman series there had been whispers about, not a talk show.

Riley really needed to get better at fully explaining these things.

So, he was hosting a talk show. For his first interview would he be getting an easy interviewee? Maybe an actor who he'd worked with before or a kid who'd started a charity? Nope. Oh, he was interviewing kids, but they were the kids of celebrities. And there were five of them.

Five, all at the same time.

Would the show get cancelled if he ran off the stage screaming?

Liam straightened his tie and made sure that his hair hadn't been displaced from its perfectly tousled look that his stylist had spent almost an hour on. His cue was coming in 3...2...1...

Applause greeted him as he walked on stage. The spotlights temporarily turned the audience into a mess of shadows before they were turned down. Liam didn't know how the show's producers had managed it, but every available seat in the audience was filled. Maybe they had pulled random people off of the street. He did see a guy sitting near the back who he thought he recognized as the guy who played the accordion in the subway.

The first few minutes of the show went well. Liam introduced himself, made a few jokes, and kept cool when his microphone stopped working in the middle of a sentence. Then he had to introduce his guests. He got their names all right, after practicing them for weeks it would have been criminal for him not to, and then managed not to chuckle over their collective moniker, the 'Kids of Sparta'.

"You know, I really don't like that name," Anastasia Gazis, daughter of Zacharias Gazis, said after all five of the kids had sat down. "We're from Athens, not Sparta."

"It is the only thing we have in common," Cyril Smith, son of Muriel Granger-Smith, pointed out. "Literally the only thing."

Anastasia, Cyril, Justin Maus, Ruby Vance and Piper McLean were all the children of actors from the Sparta movies, _King of Sparta_ and _Son of Sparta_. As Cyril had said, that was the only thing that they all had in common. They were all different ages, ranging from Anastasia being the youngest at nine to Ruby being the eldest at eighteen, and none of them were reported to have similar hobbies, though Justin and Ruby had both been seen reading the same book once. Really, the only reason that they were here was that their parents had acted on the same set.

Liam smiled. "Well, if you can figure out how to control what people say on the internet, let me know."

"So, those rumours about you and Janice Black aren't true then?" Ruby asked with obvious false innocence.

Liam made an exaggerated surprised face. "Uh, well..."

The audience chuckled.

Liam cleared his throat. "Enough about me. Anyone gotten arrested lately?"

"Oh!" Justin raised his hand. "Me! I mean, I wasn't really arrested, but I was handcuffed in a police car."

"Doesn't that count as being arrested?" Anastasia asked. "Or were you just doing something stupid?"

"That is a stereotype about the children of celebrities," Cyril said.

"That we're stupid or that we get arrested all the time?" Piper asked.

Cyril scowled. "Don't you get arrested all the time? You're, like, klepto."

Piper crossed her arms and sat up straighter in her seat. "I never stole anything."

"Except for my boyfriend," Ruby joked. "Or is the hottie I saw you with single? Because if he is, I call dibs."

Piper gave a laugh that managed not to sound totally forced. That would be poor thanks to Ruby for changing the subject.

"No, that's my boyfriend—" Piper was interrupted by a roar that seemed to be coming from backstage. All of the kids looked at Liam, who was just as confused as they were. There wasn't a roar anywhere in the show outline.

"Was that a lion?" Justin asked.

While the other kids were looking around, Piper seemed to be looking for something in the audience. Liam saw movement out of the corner of his eye as someone got up and made their way out of the studio.

"I'll go have a look," Piper then said. "You guys just stay here."

No one protested as Piper got up and practically went running backstage. Liam thought that he saw her taking something shiny out of her jacket as she went, but that could have been the lights messing with his eyesight again. Another roar sounded.

"While that is being dealt with," Liam said, "how about you tell us about your new fashion line, Ruby?"

The interview proceeded without any more unplanned interruptions. At some point after the commercial break, Piper rejoined them with golden dust scattered on her blue jeans that didn't seem at all odd to anyone, though it would inspire some of Ruby's next designs. At around the same time, there was a disturbance in the audience and a flash of blond hair as someone retook their seat.

Ruby and Liam managed to keep everyone on topic and not at each other's throats, and before they knew it the interview was over. Liam let out a sigh as they went to the next commercial. Maybe he would survive this talk show thing after all.

Unless a lion had actually gotten loose backstage. If anyone told him that was what happened he was quitting.


	7. Silena Beauregard and Luke Castellan

Taking place during _The Last Olympian._

* * *

 _Silena Beauregard and Luke Castellan_

Tara wasn't sure how she had ended up in the lobby. The last thing she remembered was her mom and girlfriend smiling down at her while the anesthesia went to work. Well, that answered her question. She must have been dreaming. When she woke up she would be back in the hospital with as many visitors as she was allowed waiting for the all clear to come see her.

Since this was a dream, Tara decided to walk around a bit and see what her mind under anesthesia came up with. The walk was slower than it would have been in her usual dreams, which she attributed to the isoflurane and whatever else was in her anesthetic mixture, but what she saw was just as weird as normal. There were two teenage girls wearing nothing but swimsuits arguing by a potted plant, an old lady knitting a scarf that was piled up to her shoulders on the floor by her chair, and several people begging for change. The largest clear groups of people were the kids walking around in armor that looked Roman or Greek, and the people of various ages standing in a cordoned off corner with a sign reading "Manhattan" in front of them.

A handsome man in an expensive-looking suit was standing behind the reception desk. When Tara looked at him he scowled and made a "come here" gesture with one hand. Tara looked around for anyone else he could be talking to.

"Yes, I mean you. Get over here," the man yelled. The only other people in the lobby who reacted were the kids in armor, some girls dressed all in silver, and the Manhattan people. They all jumped at the sudden noise and a few of the armor kids and silver girls reached for weapons.

Tara walked over to the reception desk, weaving around two armor kids and a man carrying a toaster. "What is it?"

The man, Charon, according to his name tag, continued to scowl. "Where were you?"

Tara blinked. "Here. In the lobby. Just now."

"Where were you _when you died_?" Charon elaborated.

What. The. Hell? Obviously her mind was not happy with her.

"I'm not dead," Tara said. "I'm having a heart transplant."

Charon rolled his eyes. "If you weren't dead you wouldn't be here."

"I'm having a heart transplant at Mount Sinai in Manhattan," Tara insisted.

"Manhattan?" Charon asked. Tara nodded. "Go stand with the others then."

"What?"

Charon pointed at the people behind the Manhattan sign. "Stand there and don't move."

Something in Charon's voice made Tara immediately follow his instructions. Even if this was a dream (this _was_ a dream, no ifs ands or buts about it. This had to be a dream, because she couldn't be _dead_ ) she had a feeling she didn't want to be the one to make this guy mad.

After a few minutes (was it a few minutes? Time wasn't working right) the door opened and a girl stepped into the lobby. Since Tara was at the front of the Manhattan group she was easily able to see the girl's corroded red armor and ruined face. She was able to see the girl's face heal as she crossed the threshold and then immediately after that lost sight of her as she was swarmed by about half of the other kids in armor.

"Silena!"

"Is that Clarisse's armor?"

"What's happened?"

"Is my sister alright?"

The kids talked over each other until one of the girls who looked older than the rest did a taxicab whistle and yelled for them to give Silena space. The kids backed off and Tara could see Silena smiling gratefully at the other girl.

"We were attacked by a drakon," Silena said quietly. "Only a child of Ares can kill it."

One of the boys cursed. "They're back at Camp!"

"I went and got them," Silena said. "I wore Clarisse's armor. They never wanted to sit out, they followed me."

"The drakon got you," a blond boy with a pattern of owls on his armor said. Silena nodded.

"Your sister was fine the last time I saw her, Jamie," she told another boy. "She just had a few cuts, nothing major."

"Thank you," the boy said with a nod.

"How far have we been pushed back?" a girl dressed all in silver asked.

"We're only a few blocks from Olympus," Silena said. "We're camping in the Empire State Building."

One of the armor kids laughed. He was one of the ones who hadn't gone straight to Silena when she arrived. "Kronos will win."

"No he won't," Jamie shouted. "We've got Percy Jackson."

"The son of Poseidon," a girl scoffed. "He can't be everywhere at once. We outnumber you."

The kids in armor started arguing with each other, split between two clear sides. Then girls dressed in silver joined in, bolstering the side that had run to greet Silena. Weapons were drawn.

"Stop!" Silena ordered. The other kids froze. "We're all dead now, this doesn't matter anymore."

"Until Kronos opens the Underworld," a boy muttered. A girl in silver glared at him.

"We are all dead," Silena repeated firmly. "We can stop fighting. We used to be friends, remember?"

The kids looked at each other. Then Jamie spoke to one of the boys on the other side.

"Do you still play Mythomagic?"

"Yeah," the other boy said after a moment. "Do you...want to play?"

"Sure," Jamie said. "Arrielle? Are you allowed to play card games with boys?"

A silver girl with dark hair smiled. "I'm allowed to play card games with friends."

The three of them went off to play their game and the rest of the group of kids split apart. They still seemed to segregate themselves between sides but Tara noticed that there was mixing between the two that didn't end in sword fights. After some amount of time (Tara still wasn't sure how long it was), Charon announced that the elevator was leaving and all of the armor kids piled in. Then the lobby was quiet for a time before more armor kids came streaming in. They were more of a blur than the first group. Tara thought that she might be waking up, but the very clear view of a blond man in bronze armor nixed that idea.

A hush fell across the new armor kids when the man was spotted. "Luke," someone breathed.

The man, Luke, stood tall and faced the entire lobby. "Kronos has fallen," he announced. "Olympus still stands. The gods have triumphed."

Once again the armor kids were split into two groups—the ones who cheered, and the ones who didn't. Tara didn't get to see how they would interact because as soon as Luke made his announcement Charon yelled at the Manhattan group that they were free to go.

"Get out of here," he told them, "you're taking up space. The door is that way."

Tara found herself swept along with the rest of her group as they headed out the front door. Just before she opened her eyes (if she had any other dreams she didn't remember them) she saw Luke back in the lobby prying apart two girls who had gone at each other with knives. On his face was an easy smile that made her think that maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't have been so bad if she was actually dead.


	8. Katelin Claybourne (OC) and Jake Mason

Taking place in between _The Battle of the Labyrinth_ and _The Last Olympian_. Katelin "Katara" Claybourne (OC) is a daughter of Amphitrite.

* * *

 _Katelin "Katara" Claybourne (OC) and Jake Mason_

Bolton Preparatory Academy was supposed to be one of the best schools in America. It was not supposed to be a battleground.

Bee ducked behind a trash can that just managed to shield her from the explosion that happened a few feet away. Chunks of dirt and sod rained down around her along with something heavier that landed at her feet with a thud. She looked down and saw a bloody, greenish lump of flesh with four fingers at one end. She screamed and scuttled backwards, away from the arm.

Another explosion somewhere only slightly further away sent her running back towards the school building. She had been eating lunch outside with her friends when a bunch of people (?) just started swarming the place. She had gotten separated from the rest of the girls in the chaos. Whatever it was that was going on, the school was the safest place to be. It had bulletproof windows.

Bee screamed again when she collided with someone. The person said something that wasn't in English before pushing her to the ground and stabbing at something over her head with a broom (?). Dust rained down on Bee's face and ear, but mostly it got in her hair and was going to be a huge pain to get out later.

She blinked up at the girl standing over her. "Katelin Claybourne?"

"What are you doing out here?" Katelin demanded.

"I...I...lunch...bombs," Bee stuttered.

Katelin rolled her eyes and pulled her roughly to her feet. "Get inside!"

Bee blinked. "But you—"

"Now!"

Bee stumbled towards the school, aided by a push from Katelin. She made it about four feet before she heard a scream. She automatically turned to look and saw Katelin with her feet dangling very (?) far off the ground as a very (?) large, tattooed man lifted her by her neck. Her broom (?) was in the man's other hand.

Bee hesitated. Katelin had told her to go inside but she couldn't just leave her to get strangled.

Katelin was kicking at the man with no visible effect. Her face was turning a shade of blue that did not look at all healthy.

Bee gritted her teeth and looked for a weapon.

Suddenly, the man let out a roar. Bee blinked and he was gone. Standing in his place was a muscular boy carrying a baseball bat (?) and a round trash can lid (?). Katelin's broom (?) lay at his feet.

"You okay, Katara?" the boy asked. Katelin nodded after gasping a few times, so he must have been talking to her.

The boy knelt did something with his baseball bat (?) and flipped Katelin's broom (?) off of the ground. She caught it easily with one hand like she had done it a hundred times.

"Do you know how many more there are?" Katelin asked.

"Too many," the boy said gravely. "I'm glad you're here, we need the backup."

"This is my school," Katelin said. She looked at the area around the school. "Hey, Jake?"

"Yeah?" the boy, Jake, said.

"If there are too many...where are they?"

Bee froze with Katelin and Jake. The other two had just enough time to raise their weapons (?) before they were surrounded on three sides by a pack of growling Doberman Pinschers.

Jake swore loudly and impressively, assuming that everything he said that wasn't in English was also swearing. "Attack plan omega!"

"That just means we're outnumbered!" Katelin shrieked.

Bee looked around for a weapon again and saw a brick that had gone flying through the air during the first round of explosions. She picked it up and threw it as hard as she could at the dogs. It hit the ground and skittered to a stop a few feet in front of one of them.

Katelin, Jake and the dogs looked at the brink. The dogs appeared to be blinking in surprise. Then all of them turned their heads and looked at Bee.

"Mortal?" Jake asked. Bee didn't know what that was supposed to mean, but Katelin nodded.

The dogs shook off their shock and started advancing.

"I told you to go inside," Katelin yelled at Bee. She brandished her broom (?) and several of the Dobermans turned tail and fled so quickly it was like they had turned to dust.

"The ocean isn't far," Jake suggested as he swung his bat (?).

Katelin stabbed at another group of Dobermans. "I'm not Percy!"

Bee ran for the doors and didn't look back.

* * *

Disclaimer for Bolton Preparatory Academy, which is making a cameo from the _Virals_ series. Bolton and the _Virals_ belong to Kathy Reichs and Brendan Reichs. (I needed a stuffy prep school near the ocean, and Bolton fit the bill).

-Cynder2013


	9. Percy Jackson and Grover Underwood

Taking place between _The Blood of Olympus_ and _The Hidden Oracle._

* * *

 _Percy Jackson and Grover Underwood_

Christmas Island National Park was, in Max's opinion, the best place in the world. When he was there he could forget that his wife had left him and that their teenage daughter was eight months pregnant with the child of a blond god-awful poet who had skedaddled out of her life as soon as he found out.

His wife blamed him for the pregnancy, which was why she left. Like Max could have done anything to stop it. Damn that poet.

Max took a deep breath of the pleasantly warm air. It was fine. Everything was fine. He was walking in the best place in the world. Everything was fine.

The trail curved and sloped uphill. Max walked around the curve and made it a good distance up the hill before the other side of the hill came into view and he was forced to stop and stare. His mouth dropped open.

Spanning the trail at the bottom of the hill was a black-haired boy waving a cricket bat at a giant coconut crab. The coconut crab was snapping its claws back at him. Another boy wearing a bright orange hat stood a little bit further away, watching the two odd fighters and chewing nervously on something shiny.

The black-haired boy grinned. "Come on, you can do better than that," he said to...the crab. The boy was talking to a coconut crab.

That was fine. Everything was fine.

"I'm barely sweating," the boy said. "Give me something to talk about."

"Uh, Percy?" the other boy said. "You shouldn't be mocking him..."

Max blinked and Percy was suddenly on the ground with the coconut crab standing on his chest. The crab let out a hiss that somehow carried all the way to where Max was standing, jumped off of Percy's chest, and scuttled away into the trees.

Everything was totally fine.

The other boy sighed and held out a hand to help Percy to his feet. "I told you this was a bad idea."

Percy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, Triton dared me."

The other boy sighed again. "Do you need me to tell you what Annabeth would say if she were here?"

Percy shook his head with a smile. "I know it's childish...but it was fun."

The other boy rolled his eyes towards the sky and started walking down the trail towards where Max was standing. "Come on. Maybe we can catch an early ocean current home."

"What did the crab say?" Percy wanted to know.

His friend grimaced. "That you can't expect a demigod to beat a decapod."

Max turned around and walked away.

Everything was fine.


	10. Percy Jackson and Nico di Angelo

Taking place after _The Blood of Olympus._

* * *

 _Percy Jackson and Nico di Angelo_

Christopher Nicolas Kringle's parents should not have been allowed to name their children. Granted, he was their only child but he was sure that if he'd had any siblings their names would have been even worse than his. Then again, it was hard to get worse than the name that doomed Christopher to a lifetime of working as a mall Santa.

Christopher (please don't call him Chris) shifted in his seat. The fake fur trimmed red wool Santa suit felt like it weighed about a million pounds. His break was still an hour away and the line of kids waiting to meet Santa wasn't getting any shorter. He swore to himself that next year he was going to change his name and become an accountant.

He heard Marianne, the woman dressed as an elf whose real job was to make sure Christopher hadn't died of heat stroke, tell the next people in line that it was their turn to see Santa Claus. Christopher sat up straighter and plastered a smile on under his fake beard. He had a lot of practice with that smile, so it didn't even twitch when he saw the two teenage boys walking towards him. He hoped they didn't put a frog in his beard like the last teenagers did.

"Ho, ho, ho," Christopher said. "Hello boys! Have you been good this year?"

The shorter boy turned to his friend and scowled. "Percy, I am going to kill you."

Percy grinned, his green eyes sparkling. "Will won't let you," he said to the other boy. Then he spoke to Christopher. "Mr. Claus, my cousin has never taken a picture with you before. He hasn't been that good—"

"Hey!" the cousin complained.

"—but could we get a picture anyway?"

Christopher's smile became quite real. "Ho, ho, ho," he chuckled. "Of course you can take a picture."

Percy gave his cousin a little push and he, still scowling, went to stand next to Christopher. Christopher put one arm around the boy's shoulders and smiled in Percy's direction. Percy snapped a picture with a disposable film camera he'd taken out of his jacket pocket.

"Come on, Neeks, smile!" Percy said.

"Don't call me Neeks," the other boy grumbled.

Percy took another picture. "Much better. Thanks a million, Mr. Claus!"

Don't-call-me-Neeks jumped away from Christopher so quickly that Christopher had his arm hanging in the air for a noticeable amount of seconds. He put his arm down and acted like nothing at all weird had happened.

"Ho, ho, ho. You're welcome, boys! Now, are you going to tell me what you want for Christmas?"

"A new Percy," don't-call-me-Neeks said.

Percy ruffled his cousin's hair. "Awww, you know you love me, Death Boy. I'd like to graduate without destroying my school, Mr. Claus, but I think that's too much to ask for."

"Ho, ho, ho. I'll see what I can do," Christopher said with a wink.

Percy grinned. "Thanks, Santa."

"Kelp Head," don't-call-me-Neeks said as the boys walked away.

"Bones-for-brains," Percy shot back.

"I'm smarter than you. Annabeth said so."

"Did she say you were smarter or that you were less of an idiot?"

Christopher collapsed back into his plush chair as the boys made their way out of earshot. "Could I please have some water, Marianne?"

Marianne reached behind the huge chair and handed Christopher one of the hundred bottles of water they had stashed there, which Christopher couldn't get to himself because his costume got in the way. Christopher swallowed half the water in the bottle and sighed. Only fifty-five minutes to go.

Next year he was becoming an accountant.

* * *

A/n: Happy Holidays, everyone!

-Cynder2013


	11. Hazel Levesque

Taking place after _The Blood of Olympus_

* * *

 _Hazel Levesque_

It was too early in the morning on a Monday for the Starbucks where Eric worked to be full, but the people making drinks were guaranteed to be busy for the next two hours.

"...and one triple, venti, half sweet, non-fat, caramel macchiato," the man ordering coffee for his whole department said with a gasp. "Sorry."

Eric gave a pained smile as he wrote the final order on the coffee cup. "Happens more often than you'd think."

After the man paid and went to wait for his mammoth order, a pretty girl with curly brown hair and big golden eyes came up to the register. Eric didn't let himself relax. Teenagers tended to have complicated drink orders, and he said that as a teenager who favoured the Orange drink.

"Could I have two large hot chocolates, please?" the girl asked.

Wait, what?

Eric blinked. "Uh, I hate to break it to you but it's a little more complicated than that."

The girl frowned and squinted at the menu on the wall behind him, causing adorable little wrinkles to form between her eyebrows. She gave up after a few seconds, probably because everything on the menu was written in a cursive font so small that it couldn't be read with the Hubble Space Telescope.

"What's so complicated about hot chocolate?" she asked.

"First of all, size," Eric said. He picked up a cup for a 'tall' drink and showed it to the girl. "I'm guessing this is what you meant by large?"

The girl nodded.

"Well, this is the smallest size we officially have. It's called tall. Short isn't listed on the menu."

The girl looked at the cup with bewilderment. "That's supposed to be small?"

"Yup," Eric said. "Now for the actual drink. We have hot chocolate, but you have to choose the type of milk you want and if you want whipped cream or not. We also have black and white hot cocoa, peppermint cocoa, peppermint white hot chocolate, salted caramel hot chocolate, snickerdoodle hot cocoa, and toasted white chocolate cocoa, all with your choice of milk type and whipped cream presence."

Eric took a few deep breaths to recover from the unnecessary list while the girl blinked.

"What type of milk is there?" the girl finally asked.

"Almond, coconut, non-fat, whole, two percent, or soy," Eric said. He lowered his voice slightly. "I'd recommend whole milk or coconut. Everything else tastes like feet."

Not that he knew what feet tasted like. Nope, there wasn't any dare from third grade that gave him that experience.

"Oh," the girl said.

"Also, you're probably going to be waiting for like an hour."

"My boyfriend isn't going to be here for a while anyway," the girl said with a sigh. "I'll have two tall hot chocolates without whipped cream, one with whole milk and one with coconut milk, please."

Eric uncapped his marker. "Name?"

"Hazel Levesque, cent—" the girl cut herself off. "Just Hazel."

"Okay," Eric said. He wrote "Hazel" on two cups with all the required shorthand to get her one hot chocolate with whole milk and one hot chocolate with coconut milk. "That'll be eight dollars. We'll call you when your order's ready."

Hazel gave Eric a small smile as she handed him a handful of dollar bills. "Thank you."

The one other person in line took Hazel's place with a scowl on his face. "It's about time!"

He'd been waiting about ten seconds.

Eric plastered a smile on his face. "What can I get you, sir?"

"Caramel macchiato, venti, skim, extra shot, extra-hot, extra-whip, sugar-free."

And obviously extra high maintenance. Eric couldn't stop his eyes from rolling towards the ceiling. Why couldn't more customers be like Hazel?

* * *

A/n: Well, this one's bad. My original note for it was "Hazel is adorably confused while ordering hot chocolate" but that didn't happen.

-Cynder2013


	12. Malcolm Pace and Sapphire Banks (OC)

Taking place after the events of _The Blood of Olympus_. Sapphire Banks (OC) is a daughter of Hades and Persephone, and a legacy of Letus; a combination that is explained by Zeus being paranoid (as usual) and Letus being selfish. And also magic.

* * *

 _Malcolm Pace and Sapphire Banks (OC)_

It was a truth universally acknowledged that Malcolm was the favourite cousin in the Pace family. The one other cousin he said hello to first at family gatherings was the undisputed king or queen until the next time all twelve of them were together. Sure, most of their parents didn't like him because their grandparents didn't like him because they didn't approve of Auntie Elsa being a single mother, but all the cousins thought he was totally awesome.

This year at the annual end-of-summer Pace family barbeque, Violet was queen. She'd answered the door when Malcolm and Auntie Elsa arrived and then spent the last hour glued to his side to help fend off remarks from the adults.

Once all two dozen aunts, uncles, and various degrees of cousins had arrived, the party quickly spread from Violet's house into the yard, and then next door into Grandma and Grandpa Pace's yard. Violet, Malcolm, and their cousins Lizzy and Justin were camped out on the stairs in Violet's house, out of the way of people rushing around trying to get lunch ready. Malcolm and Lizzy were sitting on the steps reading while Violet and Justin played War on the landing.

Justin slapped down the ace of spades. "I win!"

Violet sighed as he took the ace and her last card (three of diamonds). "Luck. Pure luck."

"Check if he's counting cards," Malcolm said from behind a biography of Ada Lovelace.

Justin blinked. "Isn't counting cards, like, a gambling thing?"

The doorbell rang before Malcolm could reply. Lizzy looked up from her book and the four of them eyed the door. Why would someone be ringing the doorbell when the Pace family had basically taken over the whole street?

"I'll get it," Malcolm said.

He put down his book and walked the last few steps down the stairs. When he opened the door the only thing Violet could see was a plant with long leaves and white flowers on the ends of long stems.

"Annabeth's little brother?" the flowers said with surprise.

"I'm only fourteen months, three days, two hours and sixteen minutes younger than her!" Malcolm said.

The flowers were quiet. They were shifted to the side and the girl carrying them looked at Malcolm with wide, dark eyes. Violet recognized her from school, elementary and high school. She was in the grade below Violet. Her name was Sapphire and her parents owned a flower shop/jewellery store a street or two away.

"You are very passionate about that," Sapphire said.

"What if I called you 'Nico's little sister' all the time?" Malcolm said.

Sapphire grimaced. "Fair enough. So, delivery for Linda Pace. Which woman outside is she?"

Violet stood up. "That's my mom. I'll help you find her."

Sapphire nodded. "Thanks."

Violet broke a trail through the crowd of Paces for the girl, who she was sure could barely see past the potted plant she was carrying. Malcolm was walking next to Sapphire, talking with her about something that had happened at the summer camp that they apparently both went to. Malcolm had mentioned this summer camp before, but not in enough detail that Violet could understand what they were talking about. She had no idea who Reyna and Nico were or why Sapphire should be forgiven for helping them. Malcolm had said something about Sapphire being Nico's little sister, but from what Violet remembered Sapphire's brother was younger than her.

Violet's mom was standing by the barbeque, talking to one of her brothers. She turned her head as Violet, Malcolm and Sapphire approached. Her eyes lit up.

"These must be the flowers I ordered," Linda said.

Sapphire shifted her grip on the shiny blue ceramic flower pot. "Yes, ma'am. White calla lilies."

Linda called for her husband to carry the flowers inside. Then she turned to Sapphire, who was rubbing her arms and grimacing.

"Where's the necklace?" Linda asked.

"The necklace?" Sapphire repeated. "Ma'am, the necklace you ordered is a custom design. It's only been two days."

"But the flowers are here," Linda said. "I ordered the flowers and the necklace together, so they should be delivered together."

"It's not possible to make a custom necklace in two days," Sapphire said.

Linda scoffed. "Don't make excuses. The store isn't that far away, you can just go back and get it."

Sapphire took a breath, probably trying to stay calm. "The necklace literally hasn't been made yet. My dad just finished the design. There is no necklace to bring here."

Linda was quiet. Violet was hoping that she and Malcolm would be able to hurry Sapphire away, but her mom spoke again before they could move.

"I'll just take the one you're wearing."

Sapphire took a step back while Violet and Malcolm looked at Linda with wide eyes. Had she really just said that?

Sapphire covered the silver trillium pendant hanging from her necklace. "No! My grandmother made this for me. I'm not giving it to you."

"It's for my daughter," Linda said. "Besides, it's too pretty for you. You have a tattoo."

"Leave me out of this," Violet grumbled, too quiet for her mom to hear.

Sapphire did have a tattoo, a black butterfly with the letters SPQR and a random vertical line underneath, which was totally illegal since she couldn't be older than fourteen, but that didn't ban her from wearing pretty jewellery. It was a _butterfly_ for goodness sake!

Malcolm did the single bravest thing he could have done in any Pace family situation: He drew attention to himself.

"Aunt Linda," he said. "Shut up."

Linda gave an offended half gasp half scoff. Before she could say anything else, Violet grabbed Sapphire's arm and ran out of the yard with Malcolm following after them. The crowd of Paces parted like the Red Sea to let them through.

The three of them kept running down the sidewalk until they were at the furthest intersection from Violet's house while still being on the same street. Malcolm and Sapphire didn't seem bothered by the impromptu sprint, but Violet immediately put her hands on her knees and took in big gulps of air. She was stupidly out of shape. Maybe she should join track.

Sapphire looked at Malcolm. "Are you sure your aunt is human?"

Malcolm sighed. "That's always the question, isn't it?"

Yes, yes it was.

* * *

A/n: Yeah, I've been watching too many r/entitledparents videos (even though it's been more than two weeks since I've watched one).

About Letus's symbol being a butterfly. It was one of the options on his Wikipedia page and I chose it instead of the inverted torch (which I was leaning towards) because since the Romans are happy to let Death stay Greek I figure that if they did have any children/legacies of Letus who didn't have any other Roman god whose symbol they could be branded with they would use the symbol for Letus that gave him the least power over them. You know, butterflies are delicate and non-threatening. I know that the butterfly is also a symbol of Psyche, but she's one goddess that I cannot see having demigod children ever (see the story of Eros/Cupid and Psyche for why) so I feel okay about using it for Letus.

-Cynder2013


	13. Practically everyone

Taking place after the events of _The Trials of Apollo_ as well as after the events of all previous chapters of this fic.

* * *

 _Practically everyone_

The waiting room in the maternity ward was always crowded when babies were being born, but Alice was pretty sure it had never been _this_ crowded. At last count there were six men, four women, one teenage boy, one teenager with green and pink streaked hair who Alice was hesitant to label as either a boy or a girl, one little girl, and two toddlers. There was also a blond man who poked his head into the room every few minutes to ask if the baby had been born before going back to the dark shadow pacing the sidewalk outside. There weren't enough chairs for everyone, but that didn't seem to matter to them. Most of the adults were pacing around the room, even the young man whose legs seemed strange, though Alice wasn't sure what was strange about them. Sometimes they gathered in clumps to talk too quietly for Alice to hear over the filing she was doing behind the desk. A skinny man wearing a tool belt and a black-haired woman with one eye were playing with the two toddlers. The man was controlling a toy robot T-Rex that would alternatively chase the children around or recite Shakespeare in a squeaky voice. The little girl, the grey-haired man, and the woman with orange-brown hair were the only people who had stayed sitting for more than a minute. The man was marking papers and looking at the hallway that led to the delivery rooms every few seconds. The girl and the women were playing with a complicated cat's cradle that had a different shape every time Alice looked up from her work.

The teenage boy walked up to the one-eyed woman and asked, loud enough that Alice could hear, "Is it normal for it to take this long?"

The woman didn't take her eye off the children, who were roaring at the toy dinosaur. "Why are you asking me?"

"Maybe because you're the only person here who's been through childbirth?" the other teenager suggested.

The woman grimaced. "Those weren't normal circumstances. Either time."

The two blond men in the room nearly collided as the man with scars on his cheek suddenly changed direction. The man with glasses said something that Alice couldn't quite understand but recognized as Latin thanks to the classes she had to take in college.

"Sorry," the man with scars said.

"At least if anyone gets hurt we're already in a hospital," the T-Rex man said with a grin.

The man with scars and the man with glasses looked at each other before walking over to the T-Rex man and slapping the back of his head.

"Ow!" The T-Rex man rubbed the back of his head. "Don't damage the merchandise!"

"You've had worse, Repair Boy," the man with glasses said.

Repair Boy stuck his tongue out at the man with glasses.

"Real mature, Leo." The man with scars rolled his eyes.

"My beautiful girlfriend will defend me!" Leo turned to the woman and girl playing with the cat's cradle. "Calypso, you're my only hope!"

The woman, Calypso—a beautiful name, Alice thought—transferred the cat's cradle to the girl's hands. "I suppose you are hopeless then."

Leo pretended to sob and the two blond men laughed.

Alice turned back to the filing cabinet to put away the next set of documents. When she was facing the waiting room again she saw the third blond man dragging a black-haired man wearing a skeleton-printed t-shirt into the waiting room. Everyone else in the room turned to look at them. Even the two toddlers turned away from their game to glance at the men for a moment before going back to chasing the T-Rex around.

"Finally," said one of the other women. She was tall and dark-haired with eyes that blazed gold even from across the room.

"Welcome to the party, Death Boy." Leo grinned.

The one-eyed woman tilted her head. Alice got the strange feeling that she was listening to something in the direction of the delivery room, though there wasn't anything that Alice herself could hear and sounds from the delivery room reaching them all the way out here was impossible.

"You're just in time," the one-eyed woman said.

The teenage boy stared at the one-eyed woman, aghast. "You could tell this whole time?"

The one-eyed woman rolled her eye. "No, I could tell just now. Limits, Magnus, we all have them."

Alice had no idea what they were talking about. Before she could put serious thought into untangling it, the entire room was distracted by the woman who entered from the direction of the delivery room. She was the mother-in-law if Alice was remembering correctly. She did remember that she was Sally Blofis, by pen name at least, the author of her brother's favourite book series.

Sally smiled widely. "It's a boy!"

There was an explosion of noise. Everyone in the room was talking to everyone else. Alice was sure she saw Leo and the man with glasses exchange some kind of gold-coloured coins. Finally, the black-haired man wearing a purple shirt whistled loudly and got everyone to quiet down.

"When can we see them?" the little girl asked.

"Soon," Sally said. "But only a few people at a time. We don't want to stress them out."

"Us, stressful? Nah." Leo flapped his hand nonchalantly. The woman with feather earrings slapped him upside the head this time and he pouted.

The room became noisy again as the group argued over who would get to see mother, father and baby first. Alice ducked under her desk for more files. When she emerged the room was silent and empty except for a grey-haired woman sitting in one corner looking shell-shocked. Alice suspected that she had been there for the entire three ring circus and Alice simply hadn't noticed her before due to the chaos.

Then the man with strange legs poked his head back into the waiting room. "Excuse me? Could you please give me directions to the cafeteria?"

Alice blinked and pointed to the right. "Down the hall, turn left, go down one floor."

"Thanks," the man said. He disappeared into the hall, but not before Alice though she heard him bleating like an annoyed goat.

Alice blinked again and looked down at the files she was holding. Maybe it was time for her to take a lunch break. She was obviously too tired to continue working if she was hallucinating.


End file.
